February 2011 Book of the Month.

Straub, who once collaborated with Stephen King on a couple of now classic novels, has established himself as the master of contemporary literary horror. A thread of subtle unease travels through all his books, many of whom are connected by minor characters, events or themes. A secret ritual on a campus meadow, organised by a charismatic guru, leaves it marks on all its participants as we follow their lives over the following decades and the way evil has taken hold of them forever. One of them tries to write a book to understand what actually happened and the windows of the unknown open.

Comparison: Neil Gaiman, Robert Jackson Bennett, Dean Koontz
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Synopsis

It is the 1960s and the charismatic and cunning Spenser Mallon is a campus guru, attracting the devotion and demanding sexual favours of his young acolytes. After he invites his most fervent followers to attend a secret ritual in a local meadow, the only thing that remains is a gruesomely dismembered body - and the shattered souls of all who were present. Years later, one man attempts to understand what happened to his wife and his friends by writing a book about this horrible night, and it's through this process that they begin to examine the unspeakable events that have bound them in ways they cannot fathom, but that have haunted every one of them throughout their lives. As each of the old friends tries to come to grips with the darkness of the past, they find themselves face to face with the evil triggered so many years earlier...

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About the Author

Peter Straub was born and educated in Wisconsin, and lived in Dublin and London before settling in New York. Author of a string of bestselling novels, he is the recipient of five BRAM STOKER AWARDS and the two-times winner of the International HORROR GUILD AWARD. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation